World Record Holder Shares Secrets to Living Longer

Bismarck, ND – Dan Buettner wrote the November 2005 cover story in National Geographic titled The Secrets of Living Longer. It was the third largest selling issue in the 100-year history of National Geographic. Buettner took a group of scientists and film crews to the four places in the world where people live the longest. He says these are places where a larger portion of the population reaches age 100, they have a fraction of the rate of heart disease in America, and the life expectancy is eight years longer than in America.
The first place we found was 125 miles off the coast of Italy on the island of Sardinia and the area in Sardinia is actually called the Blue Zones it is in the mountains and there are twenty times more male centenarians there, proportionally speaking, than we do in America. The second place we found was 800 miles south of Tokyo on the island of Okinawa in the northern half of the main island. There they have the longest, healthiest life expectancy in the world. In other words, there are more good years it doesn't do you much good to live to be 100 if you are in bed for the last fifteen. They have very short periods of morbidity or periods where they are disabled. Then in America we found the longevity hot spots among the Seventh Day Adventists. Ironically enough since I'm here they seem to have Benedictine values when it comes to family, community, respect, etc. And this January we've actually found the fourth one and we are unveiling it. And we have a team of scientists we found the longest lived pocket of the Americas. A place where if you are 60 you have a four-fold chance of reaching a healthy age 90 there than you do in America and they spend one-fifteenth the amount we do on healthcare.
Buettner says there are several key things Americans can do to live a longer, healthier life and the first one he says is eating a plant-based diet with very little meat and a lot of nuts, beans and tofu.
Secondly, the way we think about exercise in America is marathons, triathalons, pumping iron in the gym but I think based on what we've observed around the world the ideal amount of exercise is probably four or five times a week of doing low intensity things. That means gardening one of the best activities you can do it reduces stress and gives you fresh vegetables walking with a friend adding that social component playing with your kids for an hour I think is the best exercise. Our bodies are only built to last about forty years. We've pushed life expectancy to 78 the engineering of our body isn't such that it can take 80 years of pounding.
Buettner also says worshiping with a group within an organized religion was found to help people live two to three years longer than people that don't have religion. More of Buettner's findings are discussed on his web site and in his speaking events around the country. He says he made a profession out of being an explorer and world-record breaker of biking across five continents.
In an age where we've seen every inch of the world, the new chapter in the book of exploration has to be about going places and bringing back information that is useful to people. And this idea of blue zones not only allows me to satiate my wonder lust and curiosity but also brings back something useful. So it's the perfect kind of synthesis of purpose and pleasure.